Mamata announces board for Sherpas

Members of the All Sherpa Association celebrate on the stage after the announcement of the Sherpa Cultural Board; and Mamata Banerjee at the programme in Darjeeling. Pictures by Suman Tamang

Darjeeling, Jan. 23: Mamata Banerjee today announced from the audience of a Darjeeling programme that a Sherpa cultural board would be formed, prompting allegations of divide and rule from the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha.

“The Sherpa community has made a request for development. I was not aware of it. A Sherpa cultural board will be formed for the community. We will also grant an aid of Rs 5 crore to the board,” the chief minister announced after interrupting the emcee at a government programme, Morcha and Sherpa leaders seated by her side.

Singers Indranil Sen and Soumitra Roy were performing on the dais when some members of the Sherpa community who were sitting near Mamata were seen talking to her.

As soon as Roy’s performance ended, Mamata stopped the emcee, took up a cordless microphone that was passed onto her and made the announcement.

As soon as the programme ended, Giri said: “This is a divide-and-rule policy. If a board is formed for the Sherpas, similar boards must be set up for all hill communities. The (Sherpa) board should be brought under the GTA.”

Asked if the Morcha was feeling slighted at the end of Mamata’s three-day visit to Daejeeling, during which she made no other announcement, Giri said: “Yes.”

The Morcha had protested earlier boards by the Lepchas and Tamangs. Both boards are under the government, much to the chagrin of the Morcha.

The hill party wants the boards to function under the GTA.

As soon as Mamata left the venue of the programme at Chowrasta, members of the Sherpa community climbed onto the stage to celebrate.

Nima Wangdi Sherpa, the president of the All Sherpa Association from Darjeeling and Terai Dooars, said: “This is a historic day for all of us. We must rejoice. This is the outcome of one-and-a-half-year’s work. We thank the chief minister for the announcement and I would also like to thank all community members who came to Darjeeling yesterday to attend this programme.”

The declaration to form the board came as a surprise to many because the chief minister had not made any announcement during her three-day tour of Darjeeling.

At the government programmes she attended on Wednesday and Thursday, she limited her speeches to less than 10 minutes and had mostly spoke on developmental.

During a 12-minute speech today on the 119th birth anniversary of Netaji Subash Chandra Bose, Mamata spoke about his contribution to the freedom movement and the “incomplete history” of Netaji.

It was when the dignitaries were being escorted towards the audience from the dais before a cultural programme that Mamata suddenly walked up to the podium and said: “The Sherpa community members felicitated us. I want to ask the Sherpa leaders to provide a list of 10 mountaineering families to us. We will grant a sum of Rs 1 lakh to each family.”

The Sherpa community members had felicitated Mamata the chief minister, with a khada (silk scarf) and a basket of oranges on stage.

A gate had also been erected The Sherpa community had also erected a welcome gate near the Darjeeling railway station to welcome the chief minister.

CM announces separate development board for Sherpa community

STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
Darjeeling/Kurseong, 23 January: After the formation of the development boards for the Lepcha and Tamang communities, today the Chief Minister (CM) of West Bengal, Miss Mamata Banerjee, announced the formation of a separate development board for the Sherpa community in the Darjeeling Hills.

She further declared that the Sherpa Cultural Development board will receive a cheque of Rs 5 Crore for the development of the Sherpa community, in the 119th birth anniversary celebration of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose at Chowrastha, Darjeeling.

On the other hand, the General Secretary of Gorkha Jana Mukti Morcha (GJMM) Mr Roshan Giri said “formation of boards does not affect the strength of our party, members from TMC and GNLF are regularly switching their parties and joining Morcha” when asked whether the formation of the boards are affecting the strength of Morcha or not.

On this special occasion, Miss Mamata Banerjee pledged to keep India intact and referring to the contribution of the legendary freedom fighter, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose said “a leader is not a party’s leader, but a nation’s leader.”According to her Netaji did not get the due respect while he lived, so she said “by celebrating his birth anniversary this way, we can pay him his due respect and tribute.” While the celebration began at 12:15 pm (Netaji’s birth hour) amid the hooting of siren, the CM and other dignitaries including the GTA delegation paid floral tribute to Netaji’s portrait.

The State Government’s main function to mark Netaji’s birth anniversary was organised outside the capital of Kolkata for the second time.

The CM also declared that an amount of Rs 1 lakh will be given to 10 people who climb mountains amidst thick and thin situation for the nation but is still poverty stricken. This event also witnessed several cultural songs and dances by renowned artists from Kolkata as well as Darjeeling.

Deputation to CM: 23 Finally, the Gurung Tamu Youth Association have submitted a deputation to the state chief minister Miss Mamta Banerjee yesterday during her Darjeeling tour, demanding a single development board for the all Gorkha community namely Gorkha Tribal Culture Preservation & Research Development Board without the presence of other Gorkha communities who had earlier supported them.

Talking to the reporters, Gurung Tamu Youth Association, Kurseong, spokesperson and the president of the recently formed adhoc committee for the demand of a single board, Mr. Shanta Kishor Gurung said that demanding a single development board for the entire hill communities, they have submitted a deputation to the state CM in Darjeeling yesterday, under the banner of the Gorkha Tribal Culture Preservation & Research Development Board Demand Committee. He further added that their organisation had earlier invited and asked the opinion of all the Gorkha communities regarding the demand for a single development board for all Gorkha community.

Accordingly later, not all but a few organisation or communities had supported their demand as well as an adhoc committee had also been formed with them to demand the same. But unfortunately, during the submission of the deputation to the state CM, their organisation was alone which could be due to some problems of theirs and hence could not turn up.

He further added that even then they have placed the demand of a single development board through the Gurung Tamu Youth Association as they feel that their demand is one that would benefit all the Gorkha Communities and bring unity amongst them. He also said that they would sit for discussion whether to carry forward the demand or not.

Interestingly earlier the Gurungs had also demanded tribal status and a development board of their own but later changed track and instead made a decision to demand a single development board that would put all the Gorkha communities under a single umbrella.

Notably the Lepchas and later the Tamangs had been bestowed with a development board by the State Government and since then other Gorkha communities too have started to demand such a one of their own. Among those communities demanding a separate development board, the Sherpas have finally been successful as an announcement of a separate development board for them has been made by the state CM Mamata Banerjee at a function in Chowrasta in Darjeeling today.

Mamata announces cultural board for Sherpa community

DARJEELING, 23 Jan 2015: Signing off her three-day visit to Darjeeling, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday announced her government’s decision to set up a development board for the Sherpa community.

Gorkha Janmukti Morcha general secretary Roshan Giri, Gorkhaland Territorial Administration deputy chief executive Ramesh Allay and the three hill MLAs were seated beside the Mamata when she made the announcement.

It may be mentioned that GJM leaders had not taken to it kindly when Mamata had earlier formed the Lepcha board, saying it was interference in the functioning of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration.

Her announcement of the Sherpa board was imminent going by hints from party insiders, but the question was when. However, she did not drag the suspense for long as she chose the 119th birth anniversary celebrations of Netaji Subash Chandra Bose to announce a Sherpa cultural board. Mamata set up Lepcha community development board in 2013 and another for the Tamang community last year.

The Sherpa board formation announcement, however, was abrupt and came during the dying minutes of the birth anniversary programme at Chowrastha. The chief minister said, “They (Sherpas) had requested to set up something for them. Honestly, I was not aware of this. So we have decided to give them a cultural board.” Mamata said so from her seat below the dais where she and other dignitaries were seated following her keynote address.

When asked about the announcement, a senior hill TMC leader conceded it had been thought out earlier. “There were plans to form a cultural board for the Sherpa community. However, because of certain technicalities in the paperwork that the district administration is better aware of, the announcement could not be made earlier,” he said, not wanting to be named.

The chief minister said the state government would also soon release a fund of Rs5 crore to the Sherpa board to construct houses for poor members of the community and that other formalities would be discussed later. Earlier, she said Rs1 lakh each would be given to 10 members of the Sherpa community.

On Thursday, the chief minister handed out Rs5 crore to the Tamang Development and Cultural Board at Lebong, also to construct houses with a promise to give more funds.

When asked for his comment on the chief minister’s announcement, Giri said, “We have no ‘aitraj’ (objections) if a board for the Sherpa community is formed. However, our stand remains that similar boards should also be formed for the other sub-communities of the hills and they should all come under the purview of the GTA. We want all communities to be treated with equality.”

The GJM general secretary also dispelled fears of an adverse political effect in the run-up to the 2016 state assembly election given Mamata’s announcement. “Development is welcome and we are not against it. As far as we are concerned, the GJM is very powerful and will not be affected. We have the people’s mandate,” asserted Giri.

The GJM has already taken up with the Centre the demand for inclusion of ten hill communities and one from the Dooars in the Scheduled Tribe list. The BJP, the GJM’s political ally, has reportedly conveyed its consent to Darjeeling MP SS Ahluwalia who is pursuing the matter in Delhi with the government and party.

At the start of the programme, the organisers, the state information and cultural affairs department, sounded a siren at 12.15pm to mark the moment Bose was born. During her speech, Mamata questioned Bose’s whereabouts saying there were no authentic records on the matter, while ruing that the freedom fighter had not been given due recognition outside Bengal. (EOIC)

FLASH NEWS

West Bengal Govt. to form Namasudra Development Board within a month’s time, Bengal’s largest Dalit community Namasudras, many of whom are post-1971 migrants from Bangladesh. Some 17 ethnic development boards have been formed by Mamata Banerjee in Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts for the different communities of the hills. 35,751 total views, […]

With the tripartite talks failing in Uttar Kanya, the Joint Forum of Tea Trade Unions have called for a three-day bandh of all tea estates in Terai and Dooars in the plains and stopping of tea dispatch in all the tea gardens of the Hills. They also started a sit-in […]

UNESCO has expressed its displeasure over the maintenance of Darjeeling’s toy train and the closure of some stations due to the shortage of manpower and poor maintenance. 40,364 total views, 6,467 views today Comments comments

Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leader Bimal Gurung on Saturday claimed that the West Bengal government was secretly measuring land in Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts of West Bengal to settle those people who names would not eventually come up in the final list of National Register of Citizenship (NRC) 40,361 total views, 6,466 views […]

Four youths, Lakhu Subba, Wangdi Tamang, Kamal Mothay and Bigesh Mothay, all in their early 30’s, were arrested on Sunday on charges of raping the 16-year-old. 40,289 total views, 6,466 views today Comments comments

DT Archives

Sponsored

Apr 27, 2018Comments Off on Meet Aqui Thami from Darjeeling, whose travelling library is putting the spotlight on women’s books

‘Sister Library’, founded by the artist and activist, is going to several cities and sparking conversations around the representation of women in literature. Aqui Thami is an artist and activist from Darjeeling,...

By: Jyoti Thapa Mani [Gorkha History writer] This profile of Capt. Ram Singh Thakuri was compiled by eminent Gorkha history writer Ms. Jyoti Thapa, who meticulously curated this profile over the past 12 years, and used...

Feb 04, 2015Comments Off on Gazette Notification on issue of Citizenship issue of Gorkhas

Gazette Notification on issue of Citizenship issue of Gorkhas (Published in the Gazette of India Extraordinary Part – I Section 1 dated the 23rd August 1988 ) No. 26011/6/88-ICI Government of India Ministry of...